Abdominal supporter



'UNITED sTArEs PATENT OFFICE.

A. I. LONSBURY, OF SOMEFVILLE, TENNESSEE.

ABDOMINAL SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Patent No.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLEN I. LoNsBURY, of Somerville, in the countyof Fayette and State of Tennessee, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Abdominal Supporters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this speci ication, in which- Figure-1 represents the several parts of the apparatus connected; Fig. 2 is a front view of the front plate or pubic brace, with its buckles attached; Fig. 3 is a central ver tical section of the pubic brace, on the line J J of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the same on the line M M of Fig. 2, about an inch and half to the right or left from the center; Fig. 5 is also a vertical section of the same, on the line N N of Fig. 2, and near the end of the brace; Fig. 6 is a horizontal section of the pubic brace on the line O O of Fig. 2; and Fig. 7 is a horizontal section of the same on the line P P of Fig. 2.

The principal feature of this invention, and upon which its utility and excellence mainly depends, consists in the peculiar form of the front plate or pubic brace, and its peculiar connections with other parts of the apparatus. The pubic brace (H .I-I Fig. 1, and -more accurately represented in Fig. 2) is made of sole leather, rmly and densely hammered upon a mold made for that purpose, so as to have acquired the tenacity ot horn, and this is covered with morocco, and lined with silk velvet. It is about seven inches long and three inches wide, and of the form represented in the drawings Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. The right and left upper corners are furnished with buckles D D to receive the ilial straps C C; and another buckle Gr is attached to the center of the lower edge of the brace to receive the strap F, which is attached to the forward end of the perineal brace E.

This pubic brace being constructed in the peculiar form above described, will generally fit accurately the os pubis, and by means of the several straps to which it is connected, has the effect to press backward and upward upon the inguinal regions,

8,515, dated November 11, 1851.

without effecting any inconvenient or deleterious pressure upon the abdomen.

A sacral plate A A B, about live inches wide at the center, is nearly straight at the top, but curved at the bottom, and terminates on the right and left, in the ilial straps C C, which pass over the ossa ilii to the pubic brace. The sacral plate is made of morocco and lined with silk velvet; and to the lower edge thereof (which is intended to rest upon the os sacrum) is attached an elastic perineal strap E, of india rubber, two and a half inches wide and an eighth of an inch thick, and of which the opposite or forward end terminates in a narrow strap F, which connects to the lower buckle of the pubic brace. The perineal brace .E may be plain, simple and uncovered (which is preferable), or may be covered with fibrous or other material as may best suit the patient; and is intended to support the perineum and vagina by an upward pressure, and also to keep t-he lower part of the pubic brace in its pro-per position: and being constructed of caoutchouc, and kept warm by contact with the human body, it readily assumes such a transversely curved form as to be perfectly easy to the wearer, and supersede the necessity of pads; and being a nonabsorbent, its iieXibility will continue; thus producing results which can not be effected by any other material.

To the upper edge of the sacral plate, near the center thereof, are attached two buttons I I, to which are connected two elastic shoulder straps K K, which pass up over the shoulders and down to the ilial straps to which they are connected by buttons T T, directly over the os ilii. These straps are connected by a cross st-rap L, between the shoulders of the wearer, and are intended to aid in keeping the ilial straps in a proper position, and to aid in keeping the draft of the latter upon the pubic brace, in a proper direction: and another reason for attaching the shoulder straps to the ilial straps at those points described, is to prevent the former from pressing inconven iently upon the breasts or abdomen of the wearer.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The employment of a pubic brace of the brace being made of hammeredl leather orl peculiar form herein described, and as repother tenacious material, in the manner and 10 resented in Figs. 2, 3, 4f, 5, 6 and 7d0f the for t-he purpose herein described. drawings, so as to lit the 0S pubic, an press uniformly upon the inguinal region, While A' I' LONSBURY' the upper edge of the brace is bent' forward Witnesses: so as to eiiect no inconvenient pressure upon RUFUS PORTER, the abdomen of the wearer: said pubic WM. P. ELLIOT. 

